By Jim Meehan
NWPrepsNow
Highland football coach Gino Mariani was chatting with a reporter before Friday night’s game against Coeur d’Alene and offered a closing thought:
“Let’s see who wins by three points this time.”
That’s almost become a given in these Rams-Vikings classics and this time it was the visitors from Pocatello hanging on for a 13-10 victory. For a change of pace in this entertaining series, it was the defenses that dominated and the outcome was decided by, oh, maybe a foot.
“Another boring game with Highland,” said CdA coach Shawn Amos, whose team has lost regular-season games to Highland the last three years but has knocked off the Rams twice in the playoffs, including last year’s 31-28 victory for the 5A State championship.
Second-ranked Coeur d’Alene’s offense, blanked in the first half, came to life in the second half. Cole Williams, who had a huge game with nine catches for 146 yards, shrugged off a couple defenders and dashed 66 yards to put CdA (4-1) on top 10-6 with 3:17 left.
Top-ranked Highland (5-0) answered with a 67-yard march, capped by Kamron Farnsworth elevating for a 17-yard TD catch with 1:19 remaining.
It was far from over. Quarterback Austin Lee guided Coeur d’Alene downfield, reminiscent of the game-winning drive in last year’s title game.
The Vikings used their last timeout with 18 seconds left and faced third down at Highland’s 7.
Lee hit Colby Daniels over the middle and the senior receiver pushed toward the goal line. He was tackled about a foot short and the Vikings scrambled to set up for a field goal. It was a chaotic scene with players running on and off the field and at one point the referee was knocked to the ground.
Time ran out before CdA snapped the ball and Highland celebrated a hard-fought win. The last three meetings have been decided by three points.
“That’s the guy that ended up popping open and (Lee) hit the right guy,” Amos said. “We were supposed to either score a touchdown or throw it away. That was a good ball; we were inches away from scoring.”
The two high-powered offenses failed to find the end zone in the first half. Highland had the better of it, taking a 6-0 lead on Connor Atkinson’s two first-quarter field goals.
Coeur d’Alene drove into Highland territory four times and had another series that started at the Rams’ 40. The Vikings came away empty, stopped twice on downs, punting three times and Mason Foltz intercepted a Lee pass in the end zone.
